Invest in knowledge production to solve economic, social challenges – Professor tells government

A lecturer at Duke University, Professor Felwine Sarr has called on the government to invest in knowledge production in the education system to overcome social and economic challenges the country is grappling with.

According to him, governments on the African continent are more focused on resolving the social and economic challenges instead of investing in the production of knowledge.

He noted that the investment would help to churn out more intellectuals from the various tertiary institutions who would come up with measures to resolve the economic and social problems.

Speaking at the Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture organized by the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana, Prof. Felwine Sarr entreated the government to invest in knowledge production.

“The government has an important role to play in the pluralism of African knowledge. Africa has a lot of challenges including education, health and others so most of the time they think that investing in knowledge is not urgent so they respond to the needs and knowledge comes later. It’s a mistake because the investment in knowledge will allow them to respond to the needs appropriately.

"They must know that the spheres of knowledge are the most important one because economies are based on knowledge, innovation, technology and material forms of knowledge. Also, the knowledge they have to consider should be wider than those in the universities and sciences. For instance, there is an ecological crisis that requires knowledge to adapt and respond to the African farmers and agriculture," he said.

The professor went ahead to urge stakeholders in the education sector to ensure that African knowledge is embedded in the curriculum of various institutions.

“There is a lot of knowledge in different domains which is psychological, environmental and techniques that Africa has produced and we need to put this knowledge in the curriculum. In courses like Maths, Sciences, humanities and social science courses.”

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